Parfenova, O.A., Petukhova, I.S. (2025). What Does It Mean to Age and Be Old

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://monitoringjournal.ru/index.php/monitoring/article/view/2945 (дата обращения 01.10.2025)

Abstract

The article regards subjective perception of aging and age identity in older ages. The main research questions are: how do people define for themselves what it means to be elderly and to age? What does aging entail for them and how does it affect their identity and social roles? The authors use a life course perspective, which considers biography as a dynamic process shaped by individual decisions, sociocultural and historical contexts. The analysis is based on sociological theories of identity. The empirical base was formed by semi-structured interviews (N = 31). The analysis showed that Russians perceive aging as an inevitable biological process, often associated with loss of health, unkempt appearance and loss of interest in life. While recognizing the advantages of later life (accumulated experience, free time, relaxation, etc.), informants nevertheless try to distance themselves from their own definitions of old age and avoid identifying themselves as “elderly”. Instead, they emphasize the desire for an active lifestyle and autonomy, adaptation to changing intra-family roles. Aging in the narratives is processual and fluid; it can be influenced through access to technology, medicine, employment and active consumption, which allows you to «postpone» its manifestations in both the biological and social sense. The concept of subjective age becomes central: people often feel younger than their chronological age and «push back» aging through achievements and social activity. At the same time, those who work perceive aging as a gradual process and consider employment an important condition for maintaining vitality and prospects. The unemployed tend to see aging more negatively, associating it with infirmity, dependence and loss of interest in life, and retirement with the border between «non-aging» and old age. The study allows us to fit the aging of modern Russians into the broader context of postmodern societies. We can observe a paradigm shift in the perception of the elderly from frail to active and consuming, allowing themselves a lifestyle typical of the younger generation.